Home Study in the Evening

Once you get home, take another hour or two to study. Depending on your stamina, you may be a bit tired, so, instead of starting a new topic, this study session might be better spent reinforcing what you've already learned. For example, if you studied ratio questions in the morning and reviewed them during lunch, the evening may be a good time to work through several high-value ratio practice problems. Once you get tired, stop studying and relax. It makes no sense to study when you’re too tired to retain information.

Cut Out Unnecessary Stuff in Your Life

We can't change the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day, nor can we change the fact that proper sleep is critical to health and well being. If we assume 8 hours of sleep a night, we have roughly 16 hours of awake time. To fit in study sessions, you'll likely need to place a number of activities and tasks on hold, or at least until you're done preparing. For example, dinners and happy hours and ski trips and movies and Netflix are all enjoyable activities, but they're time-consuming. Let your close friends know that you're preparing for the GAT and that you'll be missing in action for a few months. Keep in mind that the sacrifices you're making are temporary, but a top GMAT score and a degree from a strong business school are assets that pay dividends for a lifetime. A little sacrifice now will go a long way in the future.

Hit the Books Hard on Weekends

Get up early on Saturday morning (5 am, anyone?) and head to your local coffee shop. Grab some light breakfast and whatever else you need — then spend the morning studying. You can cover new topics, review old material you’ve worked on this week, and run through a bunch of practice problems. Try your best to study until lunch time. As your test date comes near, you’ll want to spend this weekend time taking full practice GAT exams. Do your best to focus for the entire test, and simulate the test environment as much as you can (no cell phone, no calculator, no interruptions). Later, if you’ve studied hard on Saturday morning, reward yourself by doing something enjoyable in the evening. Sunday follows the same schedule.

If you’ve followed this study plan, by Sunday night you’ll likely have logged as many as 30 to 40 hours of GAT study, a number that, given a few months of time to prepare, can make a substantial increase in your score. Always keep your eyes on the prize! These few months of commitment are an investment that will pay dividends throughout your career! Good luck.